Circo

Everyone began clearing out of the tent, stopping to buy souvenirs or gift programmes. My eyes scanned the room for someone who looked as if they belonged in the circus, and when I saw no-one, I sigh dejectedly and stepped thorough the make-shift door into the outside air.

Once outside, my eyes were drawn to a wire fence that was backed into the corner behind the tent. Through the gaps of the wire I could see caravans and tents, people moving around and even a couple of dogs. My eyes lit up and I quickly made my way towards the fenced structure.

When I got there, I was disappointed to notice that the only way that I could get into the designated campsite was to go through the tent, probably through the door at the very back of the ring.

“Oi,” someone said stepping into my line of vision. “Who’re you?” they asked in a slow voice.

“Oh, I’m...I’m Frank Iero and I was just—” I paused, properly taking in their appearance. He was rather scrawny, and didn’t look like someone I should be afraid of, but the look in his eyes was enough to have me running back to Jersey.

“Just?” he asked slowly, crossing his arms over his chest his weight moving from one leg to the other.

“Just...wondering if I could get a job here?”

He almost stifled a laugh. “Here?” he asked in an amused voice “I don’t think—”

“Michael, Michael,” Another voice interjected cutting him off. I looked up to see the fat ringleader walking towards us. “If this boy wants a job here, then I’m sure we could make way for him,” he smirked then looked over me, “meet me at the entrance,” he said, walking away from the fence.

‘Michael’ just stared at me for a moment before tutting and walking away. I walked round to the entrance and waited for the ringleader to make an appearance. There was a security man who refused to let me through until the ringleader got there.

When the ring-leader arrived he didn’t say anything, he just pointed at me and beckoned for me to follow him. I did so without hesitation.

He led me all the way through to the door at the back of the ring, and the first thing that hit me was the smell. I wondered how often this place got cleaned up, especially after the amount of sweating performers that had to pass through here every day.

We bypassed that and went through to the campsite where the trailers and tents were set up, and I instantly noted how much smaller it looked from this side. People were practically living on top of each other.

Again, the ringleader said nothing, so I just continued to walk behind him, weaving through people who looked completely normal; they didn’t look colourful enough to be in a circus.

There was a line of trailers across the back, and we had to walk past them all to reach the one in the furthest corner of the campsite. As we passed the trailer next to the one we were headed for, I noticed two guys that appeared to be making out rather feverishly, one being pressed against the side of the caravan by a darker haired man who appeared to be wearing the same black legging type things as ‘the star’. Oh damn.

“Gerard, take it inside,” the ringleader said as he walked past.

The dark haired man pulled away long enough to smirk and say: “You got it, Dad,” before winking over at me and grabbing the hand of the other man and pulling him into the caravan which I assumed was his.

Dad?

I raised an eyebrow before walking through the open door to the trailer that obviously belonged to the ringleader. I’d half expected it to be somewhat like the backstage area, but for a small caravan it was pretty lavish.

“So, you want a job?” he asked. I nodded slowly, looking at him unsurely. “Okay, start now, we're leaving tomorrow,” he said.

“Doing what?” I asked excitedly.

“What do you want to do?”

My heart fluttered, “Perform,” I said confidently.

My confidence died when he threw his head back and laughed a deep throaty laugh. “Perform! Perform what?” he asked amusedly.

“I...don’t know,” I said, because in all honesty, I thought he’d be telling me that. My eyes darted to my guitar, and I’m almost certain that if it was possible, a light bulb will have just appeared above my head, “The music?”

“We have music,”

“Then I could learn to do something else,”

“We don’t have the time to teach you,”

“So when you said I had a job,” I asked slowly, “What did you mean?”

“This place gets awfully messy, and we don’t have enough people cleaning up. Start tomorrow,” he said wiping at his desk with the palm of his hand.

“But—”

“You either want a job or you don’t. You can walk away now with the knowledge that you’ve wasted both of our times, or you can be grateful with the offer you’ve been given. Now get out,” He snapped, pointing at the door.

I stood and hastily left the caravan, dragging my belongings with me, and stepped into the cold air. In all honesty, I was shocked. It appeared that he had a very short temper as well as a short attention span. I was at a loss of what to do; I didn’t know whether I should stay and do the job I was given or if I should just give up now.

I noticed that in the time I’d been with the ringleader, whose name I still didn’t know, a campfire had been lit and some of the performers and other people who worked here were all sitting around it chatting with one another.

Another thought flashed through my mind, even if I was to stay here; where was I supposed to sleep?

So far, my life at the circus wasn’t at all how I’d wanted it to be.

“A’iight love?” A woman with a strong accent said from next to me. I looked over at her and instantly recognised her as the magician’s assistant. She looked a lot older close up, definitely early forties. She had a lot of make-up slapped on and it was obvious she’d had some kind of plastic surgery. She looked a little fake. “You’re lookin’ a li’l lost,” she drawled out, I had a hard time understanding what she was saying. “Wait a sec’nd. Whatcha doin’ back ‘ere anyway?”

“I...I work here now, apparently,”

“Ol’ Way jus’ give ya a job without the details?”

“Way?”

“The geezer who runs this joint,”

“Oh,” I said, nodding. “Yeah, apparently I’m a cleaner now, or something,”

“Don’t shock me. Ol’ Terrance over there is on ‘is last legs, poor fella’,” she sighed nodding at an old man who was shuffling towards a tent carrying a beer can.

“I didn’t want that job,”

“Well, it’s that or nothin’, sweet ‘eart. Can’t ‘ave it all,” I nodded, I suppose she was right, I just wasn’t happy about it. “So, where you stayin’?”

“I don’t know,” I shrugged looking helplessly at her.

“Well, it’s lucky that I’ve got a spare bunk in me trailer. That okay for you?”

“Yeah, sure, thank you,” I smiled gratefully.

“Come on sweet ’eart, I’ll show you were you’re stayin’,”

She led me through the small camp and past the fire, towards a smaller caravan that was on the opposite side of the camp to the ring leaders.

“It’s not as fancy-pants as Way’s,” she apologised, “but it does its job jus’ fine,”

I nodded, and dropped my bags on the floor at the foot of the bed on the die of the caravan that didn’t have possessions scattered across it.

“Are you sure this is okay?” I asked.

“Of course it is, my sweet,” the strong accented lady laughed wildly. “I wouldn’ta offered if I didn’t wantcha to!”

“Thank you—” I paused when I realised I didn’t know her name.

“Call me Josie,” she smiled stepping out of the caravan and shutting the door.

“Thank you Josie,” I smiled at the closed door.

I stood up and moved around the caravan to look out of the window watching everyone around the campfire. After a little while my eyes moved over to the other side of the camp where I saw ‘the star’ leave his caravan, zipping up a jacket and exchanging some words with the man he’d been getting busy with on the side of the caravan. The man leaned in and placed a kiss on Gerard’s lips before turning and walking away. Gerard pulled a face at the man’s retreating back before moving over to the campfire and taking a seat in between Josie and the boy whose name I’d learned was Michael.

The three talked for a bit, and I saw Josie tilt her head at the caravan while still looking at Gerard. That made an un-easy feeling settle into my stomach. They were talking about me.
Gerard looked up and caught my gaze, shooting me a wink and a smirk. I blushed furiously and moved away from the window, pulling the curtains closed and collapsing on the bed.